Boost Your Bar Program with Super Juice: More Yield, Less Waste
What is Super Juice?
Super Juice is a method of extracting flavor from the entire citrus fruit created by Nickle Morris, owner of Expo in Louisville, KY. It’s a revolutionary technique designed to increase juice yield, improve flavor, and reduce waste from limes and lemons. The secret lies in incorporating an oleo citrate (oils from the peel plus acid) made from the citrus peels and diluting it with water, and combining it with the juice. This approach is becoming increasingly popular among bartenders and bar programs looking to improve efficiency without sacrificing flavor. When I worked at Rosecomb in Chattanooga, TN, we incorporated Super Juice into our bar program and enjoyed the benefits of less waste, more yield, and improved flavor.
The History and Popularity of Super Juice
While traditional citrus juicing methods have been used for decades, Super Juice is a relatively recent innovation. Nickle Morris created the method to improve the sustainability of his bar program by getting more out of each piece of fruit. In addition to boosting yield, (and this might be a hot take) Super Juice tastes better. In our blind taste tests between regular juice and Super Juice, we found that the additional flavor of the oils from the peels made cocktails taste fuller and more complex. With the exception of a handful of classic cocktails, our bartenders chose the Super Juice cocktail as their preferred drink.
Over the last few years, the popularity of Super Juice has skyrocketed, with bartenders all over the world adopting this method as a staple in their cocktail programs. As the push for sustainability, waste reduction, and profitiablity becomes more pressing in the bar industry (anyone remember “lime-a-geddon” during the pandemic?), Super Juice is emerging as a powerful tool for bars to improve operational efficiency and offer consistent quality.
Pros & Cons of Using Super Juice in Your Bar Program
Pros of Using Super Juice:
Longer Shelf Life: Super Juice stays fresher for longer compared to regular citrus juice. This extended shelf life means less spoilage and fewer last-minute juicing tasks.
Increased Yield Per Fruit (i.e. reduced cost per fluid ounce): By incorporating the peel, adding acids, and using water, Super Juice increases the amount of liquid yielded from each lemon or lime. This not only reduces costs but also means fewer fruit orders. This is something you can see for yourself. Build a regular lime juice recipe and a Super Lime Juice recipe in Spec, and you’ll find in most parts of the country, and depending on the season, the cost is reduced by at least 50%. Even when you account for labor using Spec’s labor calculator for recipe’s the cost savings are significant.
Less Waste: Super Juice is a sustainable method that helps bars reduce food waste by utilizing the entire fruit, including the peels.
Cons of Using Super Juice:
Altered Taste: The flavor profile of Super Juice is slightly different from fresh citrus juice, thanks to the addition of the oils from the peels. This may impact certain cocktails, either negatively or positively. Some drinks might benefit from this, while others may lose the brightness or complexity offered by freshly squeezed juice. You may find that with a Daiquiri regular lime juice does the trick. You’ll just need to determine your own preference through blind taste testing.
May Be Perceived as a Shortcut: Some bartenders or guests might view Super Juice as less authentic than traditional methods. While it’s certainly a novel approach to a staple bar ingredient, I think that for high-volume bar programs, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. It’s important to educate your team and customers about these benefits to dispel this misconception.
Less Vibrant Color: Super Juice often lacks the vibrant color of fresh juice, which can affect the visual appeal of cocktails that rely on a pop of bright citrus. To remedy this, consider infusing the water component of the recipe with the spent lime or lemon hulls for 15 minutes. See the directions section for more details.
Misconceptions About Super Juice
Super Juice is not more sour than regular citrus juice: There’s a common misconception that Super Juice tastes more sour or acidic than freshly squeezed juice. However, this isn’t true unless you’re working with acid-adjusted juices like orange or grapefruit. The recipe in this article is designed to mimic the natural acidity of limes and lemons.
Super Juice is not shelf-stable: While Super Juice does have a longer shelf life than freshly squeezed juice, it still requires refrigeration and must be used within about a week. This is better than the 24 hours of standard citrus juice, however. Super Juice is not a preservative-filled, shelf-stable product, so proper handling is essential.
Recipes
Below are recipes for Super Lime Juice and Super Lemon Juice. I’ve always preferred Kevin Kos’s formulas for batch-making these recipes for use in a bar program, so a variation of that is provided below.
Super Lime Juice
Fresh squeezed lime Juice
Peels of juiced limes
Citric Acid – 0.66 × weight of lime peels
Malic Acid – 0.33 × weight of lime peels
Water – 16.66 × weight of lime peels
Super Lemon Juice
Fresh squeezed lemon juice
Peels of juiced lemons
Citric Acid – Equal to the weight of lemon peels
Water – 16.66 × weight of lemon peels
Directions (for both Super Lime and Super Lemon Juice):
Peel the citrus of your choice and weigh the peels.
Place the peels in a jar (or better yet, a vacuum-sealed bag) and add the appropriate amount of citric (and malic, for lime) acid according to the formulas above.
Agitate the mixture and leave for up to two hours to form the oleo citrate.
Keep an eye on the mixture and continue to agitate if clumps of acid are not dissolving.
Pour the oleo citrate (including the peels) into a blender and add just enough of the water for the recipe to dissolve the acids. Rinse the inside of the jar or bag with the water to remove all the oleo citrate. Set aside the rest of the water for later.
Once blended, pour the mixture into a large container.
Juice the limes or lemons and add the fresh juice to the container.
Add the rest of the water to the container.
Strain the entire mixture through a cheesecloth or large sieve.
Bottle the Super Juice and store it in the fridge. Use within one week.
Conclusion
Super Juice is a powerful tool for modern bar programs, offering increased yield, reduced waste, improved taste, and extended shelf life, all while contributing to sustainability efforts. While it might not be the right choice for every cocktail, its benefits in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness make it worthy of consideration for your bar program.
If you dig novel ideas like Super Juice for your bar program, you should also check out Spec. It can help you manage your recipes, calculate labor costs, track ingredients prices, and train your staff how to make crazy recipes like Super Juice. Spec is free to use, so don’t hesitate to sign up for an account here.
Leverage the power of Spec to enhance communication, streamline operations, and improve staff training.
